Mistakenly Placed on Death Master File
Each year more than thousands of people are wrongly placed on the Death Master File. The Death Master File is a document that accounts for every American that has died since the year 1936. People usually do not realize that they have been placed on the Death Master File until they are informed by their bank or are trying to apply for credit. One woman from Philadelphia received an email from American Express in January of 2019 stating that they express their condolences on her passing. She was immediately set into full panic but thought that this was a minor mistake. She was wrong. She soon realized that she was financially powerless. Her AMEX was closed, and her bank account were frozen. (See next blog for the difference between frozen and locked accounts) Her job was not even able to deposit any of her pay into her account. This would eventually ruin or paralyze her insurance as well as her 401k.
Another woman in the state of Utah realized that something was wrong when her credit card was denied on a date night with her husband at a restaurant. She contacted her bank as soon as she returned home, and her credit card company informed her that she has been dead for two years. Since her accounts have been unfrozen, the Social Security Administration is trying to recoup 2 years of payments of tens of thousands of dollars that they believe should not have been paid out.
Funeral directors are the largest source for reporting deaths to the Social Security Administration. There has only recently been a change to switch from paper to electronically filed records. It is an easy mistake to mistype or write a social security number incorrectly. Even one number off can cause serious issues. The Electronic Death or EDR allows states to automatically verify the accuracy of a persons Social Security Number before it is sent to the SSA. Even with this system implemented, it is far from perfect.
The Social Security Administration has estimated that around 12,000 people are wrongfully marked as dead in their system each year. Once a person is in the Death Master File, it is not an easy fix, especially once the credit agencies have the death in their files. If you have become aware of being placed on the Death Master File, it is recommended that you immediately visit your local SSA office and to make sure to bring at least one current form of ID such as a driver’s license and/or passport. If they still have not removed the file, seek a lawyer to see what else you can do to make this right and possible receive compensation.
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